Painted Dreams
by Obsidian Crystal
Summary: Jasmine is in an alien, grey world, and she hates it, but one thing brings colour into it.LJ. A couple of you asked for more-"Beach Baby" used to be a "companion", now I've just made it another chapter. I might have another bit of cuteness in the works.
1. Chapter 1

_**Painted Dreams**_

_A short story by Obsidian Crystal_

_Based on Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda, having said that, it is obvious that I do not own anything that is not mine._

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Jasmine opened her eyes and stared at the beautifully painted ceiling above her bed, full of birds and animals. Sharn had chosen this room for her, as an attempt to make her feel more at home, but while it was pretty, it was flat, dull, silent, lifeless. She hated this room, it reminded her of everything she had lost in coming to this rat-ridden city: the cool green dampness of the forest, a quiet, yet deafening beauty seeping into her skin, into her bones, nature filling her up with peace.

Here she was surrounded by grey, crumbling, dry stone, hateful merchants screamed at her as she tried to take a walk, "Pretty stones for a pretty girl, would you like some my dear, only a silver coin for two!" Constant chatter and gossip, often concerning her and her "insignificant" beginnings.

She hated the whole place, except the palace garden: the beautiful trees, the exotic flowers, some from different countries, shady niches and paths where you could really find some peace, the trees bocking out all sound from the outside world, it was as close as she could get to feeling at home. She knew that the reason the gardens were so beautiful was because of her, or rather, because of someone wanting her to be happy.

She looked at the ceiling, properly waking up, and thought to herself, _I need to get out of this room. I should find a room with a view of the East Garden, the flowers in that garden are beautiful. I'll ask._ With that she turned to her right and looked at the one thing that really kept her here, in this horridly dry and grey life, what filled her life with enough love to make it colourful and beautiful, and promptly shook him awake, he awoke quickly alarm spreading across his face, "Is anything wrong, are you alright, Sweetheart?" He placed his warm palm on her forehead, "do you need anything?"

Jasmine smiled and took his palm away from her forehead and put it against her mouth, kissing it gently before putting both his hands in her lap, "I'm fine Leif, really, I was just wondering, could we find a different room, one overlooking the East Garden, perhaps, before the baby comes?" Jasmine smiled at him hopefully, her jade coloured eyes brightening as she thought of how _truly beautiful_ it would be to wake up with the sun just lightening the room. Leif looked at the woman who made being a King bearable and laughed.

"Again?" Leif looked at her bright eyes and his heart skipped a beat, he would probably eat poisoned glass out of her hand if she looked at him like that, "Why not!" He laughed and kissed her eyelids shut, "but before we go room hunting, I think we should have a sleep in." And with that said, he pulled her back down beside him and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. As she drifted into sleep she heard Leif whisper, "I love you, Jasmine"

Jasmine's smile changed to a grin, "Me too," she whispered back.

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Hello everyone!

I hoped you liked that, I LOVED writing it, it was so much fun!

If you did like it, how about reviewing, please?

Have a great day!

Obsidian Crystal 


	2. Chapter Two

_**Beach Baby**_

_A companion to Painted Dreams_

_Disclaimer: Needless to say, I'm not Emily Rodda._

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Lief was looking with blurred eyes at the seemingly endless sheafs of parchment that obscured the dark wood of his ornately carved desk. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the door, a few mere feet away, and then he looked at the papers, back at the door, back at the papers. The door won. Lief sorted out the papers into slightly more organised piles and weighed them down with his ever growing collection of paperweights (they seemed to be commuting in his workroom) and almost skipped to the door.

xxx

Half an hour later, he was sitting on the beach watching the waves role gracefully into the harbour; the docks for trade ships and the Royal navy were being steadily built and expanded. His people were swimming in the almost clear waters and he could hear the ball games of the children behind him.

He smiled; slowly but surely, Deltora was becoming a country of opportunity, safety and freedom. Then his gaze fell on the sight that pleased him the most.

His three-year-old baby girl was splashing around in one of the rock pools, while her mother kept her stunningly green eagle eyes on her. Anna was pointing and laughing, dipping her hands into the water and saturating herself and her Mama. Lief stood up and walked over to his little family.

"What is that Annie?" Lief asked, kneeling next to them and pointing at some brightly coloured thing at the bottom of the pool.

"It's a starfish!"

"Really? How do you know?"

"Cause Mama tol' me,"

"Oh, well then it must be a starfish then, huh?" Lief said, looking over Anna's wisely nodding head, a question in his eyes as he looked at Jasmine. She nodded.

Jasmine lifted Anna up and sat her on her lap. Anna looked at her, annoyed that Mama had ruined the great fun she had been having, and tried, unsuccessfully, to wriggle out of her grasp. She eventually gave up and turned her face up to glare at Jasmine. Jasmine just smiled back and planted a cheek on top of her black, curly head. Lief bent down slightly until he was on eye-level with her. This was a very important conversation.

"Annie…Mama and I have something we would like to tell you, dear heart."

"I wanna play!" More wriggling towards the rock pool, Lief took her from Jasmine, who was starting to struggle, and threw her a little way up into the air. She giggled and settled down almost immediately into his lap.

"You just have to know how to deal with her," he told his glaring wife. Anna was looking at her mother expectantly now; she knew there was no way she was going to get away from _Daddy_.

"Well, Annie," Jasmine hesitated, "Mama and Daddy are having a brand new baby. You're going to be a big sister."

Anna did not look at all phased by this.

"What is a baby?" She asked.

"A smaller, less chatty version of you," her father told her.

"Oh…will it have a different name? Cause I like my name, I don't want to share."

"Yes," Jasmine said, "the baby will have a different name. We could not call a little boy Anna, could we?"

"That would be funny!" Anna chortled.

Lief and Jasmine laughed at their little girl. They were looking very forward to having a smaller, less chatty, version of her. A baby boy would be nice…

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Long time, no write.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Love, Obsidian Crystal


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